World News - Hayden says eavesdropping program is legal. All good Police States do it

Gen. Michael Hayden, U.S. President George W. Bush's nominee for CIA director, strongly defended a domestic eavesdropping program on Thursday, saying it was vital to protect the country against terrorism and did not violate Americans' civil rights. Facing friendly questions from Missouri Republican Sen. Kit Bond about his role as architect of Bush's domestic spying program, Hayden said it was narrowly targeted to suspected terrorists, closely supervised and regularly reviewed. "We have a very strong oversight regime," Hayden said. "Targeting decisions are made by people in the U.S. government most knowledgeable about al Qaeda, al Qaeda communications, tactics and procedures. "There is a probable cause standard. Every targeting is documented," he said. "No one has said there has been a targeting decision made that hasn't been well-founded." ... http://abcnews.go.com

US stock markets have opened higher, a day after the Dow Jones suffered its biggest one-day decline in more than three years. In early trading, the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were all ahead. However, European markets have sharply fluctuated after Wednesday's big US and European falls and later dips in Asia. The FTSE 100 index in London fell 30 points before recovering, and Germany's Dax and France's Cac index also dipped, but later reversed their declines. The falls came after US inflation figures were higher than expected on Wednesday, fuelling fears of further interest rate rises. But by Thursday, the market had readjusted its views on the likelihood of a rate rise. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4992930.stm

Mexico will complain to the U.S. government about plans to build security fences and deploy National Guard troops along the border to curb illegal immigration, the foreign minister said on Thursday. Mexico's government has pushed for sweeping immigration reforms to help millions of Mexicans work legally in the United States but officials fear Washington is now moving in the other direction....http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060518/ts_nm/usa_immigration_mexico_dc

The close relationship between man and chimp has just got cosier, according to a study which suggests that ancestors of the two species interbred at some point in the distant past to form fertile hybrids. It is well established that chimpanzees are the closest living relative of humans but this is the first time that scientists have found evidence for hybridisation through interbreeding.The astonishing conclusion comes from an exhaustive analysis of the genomes of humans, chimps, gorillas and monkeys published in the journal Nature. The researchers were particularly interested in the point at which the last common ancestor of man and chimp split into two separate species - the process of speciation that gave rise to the chimp and human lineages....http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article485958.ece

A powerful tropical storm pounded China's southern coast with heavy winds and rain Thursday, killing at least two people and flooding scores of homes. More than a half million people had been evacuated from their homes. Tropical Storm Chanchu, which was downgraded earlier from a typhoon, slammed the city of Shantou in Guangdong province overnight before moving north into Fujian province before dawn, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Two children were killed when their homes collapsed on top of them near Shantou, Xinhua said. The storm also flooded nearly 200 homes and cut electricity in the area. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1975254

Bush threatened again to veto an emergency spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan after lawmakers slipped in numerous unrelated pet projects. "We must be strong on controlling the federal appetite for spending," the US president said during a speech at a signing ceremony for a recently passed tax-cut bill."Congress is now considering an emergency supplemental bill that can show the American people we're determined to be fiscally sound with their money. I've set a clear limit on spending that I'll accept for this legislation," Bush said."And if this bill goes over the limit, or includes non-emergency or wasteful spending, I'll veto it," the president vowed.Bush said it was important to put the brakes on the "growth of discretionary spending that's not related to the military or homeland security"....http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060517/pl_afp/usiraqafghanistanbush